Inspectors for insurance or contracting companies routinely visit homes and other buildings to assess damage and estimate repair costs. During each visit, the inspector usually sketches a floor plan and makes notes about various areas of the home. The inspector can also take pictures of damaged areas of a home. The inspector then takes these sketches back to an office, and recreates the floor plans in computer software for use in preparing an actual estimate. The inspector also must find the photos and associate them with a report, where applicable.
However, there are several drawbacks to this common approach. For example, it takes significant time to recreate a sketched floor plan in existing computer software. Practically speaking, the inspector must do the work twice: first sketching the floor plan in a notebook onsite, and then later manually recreating the floor plan in a computer system. The floor plan can be required as part of determining an insurance adjustment quote or repair estimate. Recreating the sketch can drastically prolong the inspector's workday.
Because of the time involved in recreating the sketches, inspectors often end up carrying around their notes for extended periods until they have an opportunity for recreating the sketches. Because sketches are commonly drawn on paper, a risk exists for the notes being lost or damaged. Often, an inspector uses a notebook, which can increase the risk. Notes are subjected to rain and the elements when the inspector is examining exterior features of a property. Other notes regarding the property similarly can be lost, damaged, or destroyed in the time that lapses before the notes are entered into a computer system.
In many situations, it is not a viable option to directly sketch the floor plan into a computer system with a mobile computing device while onsite. Cell phone screens can be too small for a user to accurately sketch a floor plan. Tablets are often too bulky for certain jobs. For example, when assessing a damaged roof, the inspector might be required to get on top of the house to take measurements. If the inspector drops their tablet, it can slide off the roof and be destroyed. Because of the high breakage risk, it is usually cost prohibitive for a company to outfit a team of inspectors with mobile computing devices for onsite assessments. Therefore, paper-based notes and the attendant shortcomings have remained the norm for inspectors.
Additionally, pictures can get lost or the inspector might not remember what room they depict. Over the course of a long day, where the inspector might take hundreds of photos, the inspector might not even remember what damage was being documented. It might be difficult to determine which pictures apply to which notes.
Therefore, a need exists for systems and methods for improved property inspection management.